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Brothers In Arms franchise will return to Sgt. Baker
Though the slightly more light-hearded Brothers In Arms: Furious Four may be the next step in the franchise, Gearbox says it isn't done with franchise star Sgt. Matt Baker. Company boss Randy Pitchford confirmed at PAX Prime 2011 that another game is in the works involving Baker, the lead in previous Brothers In Arms games Road to Hill 30, Earned in Blood and Hell's Highway. Here's the twist: No shooting. ... No, no, we're kidding. There will probably be shooting.
The many hats of Demiurge Studios
Shoot Many Robots is Boston-based Demiurge Studios' first original game, and my hands-on with it at GDC was the first time that anyone at the developer ever gave a press demo. Studio head Albert Reed was, unsurprisingly, excited to delve into the studio's origins. "We got our start doing mods for Unreal Tournament. It was me and two other college buddies doing mods in the frickin' computer cluster at Carnegie Mellon. I'm not kidding!" Reed told me before showing off Shoot Many Robots last week. "Then one thing lead to another and those companies that were licensing Unreal Engine started hiring us," Reed added humbly. It turns out that the folks hiring Demiurge were developers like Gearbox Software, Irrational Games, BioWare, and Harmonix. "We did some work on the first level -- the lighthouse and that sort of descent into Rapture," Reed told me, casually explaining that his studio clandestinely assisted with one of gaming's most iconic openings: the beginning of BioShock.
Gearbox discusses Aliens: Colonial Marines, Brothers in Arms, secret Pitchford-directed title, and more
During today's Gearbox Software panel, the developer took the opportunity to assuage concerns that new franchises like Borderlands and Duke Nukem are siphoning away time from its previous projects, like the Brothers in Arms series or the announced-in-2009-and-still-invisible Aliens: Colonial Marines. Pitchford even commented on one of the studio's three unannounced projects. "We're not announcing anything today, but we want to tell you guys that we really care about this franchise a lot," Gearbox co-founder Brian Martel said. "It's something we created and it really means a lot to us. It's not just a game about the combat. It's about the soldiers in the war. We'll deal with Baker and his men in future games for sure." So while they're not confirming that a Brothers in Arms game is in development currently, they are confirming that one will be at some point. But Martel did give us an idea of what we might expect from a future BiA offering: "But we also may do some other things that maybe treat the game in some different ways and take some different directions." So, modern warfare then? Pitchford then jumped in, agreeing. "It was our first original IP. So we'll be taking care of that one." Further confirming that a Brothers in Arms game is possibly in production, Pitchford said, " We've got a lot of action right now, but we're not ready quite yet to bring it out. We want to make sure we know we've got it right before we tell you what we're doing."
Prince of Persia, Brothers in Arms, Skate 2 join Games on Demand
That, ladies and gentlemen, is a lot of new Games on Demand. We've got three new ones this week and a price drop. As for the new titles, we've got a platformer, military shooter and hardcore skating simulation in Prince of Persia, Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway and Skate 2, respectively. Prince of Persia and Skate 2 each run $19.99 in the US, while Brothers in Arms will set you back $29.99. Meanwhile, Rockstar's Table Tennis has seen a 10 dollar price drop to $19.99. As always, pricing and availability vary by region. Xbox.com: Add Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway to your Xbox 360 download queue ($29.99) Xbox.com: Add Prince of Persia to your Xbox 360 download queue ($19.99) Xbox.com: Add Skate 2 to your Xbox 360 download queue ($19.99) Xbox.com: Add Rockstar Games presents Table Tennis to your Xbox 360 download queue ($19.99)
Xbox Live Marketplace in May: Rocket Knight, Dragon Age DLC and more
You know that dusty piggy bank you've had sitting on the shelf forever? Look, forget the kid's college fund -- she's not going to college for, like, years -- and bust that thing open! There's going to be some solid content on Xbox Live Marketplace this month. In the mood for XBLA games? How does Rocket Knight or Zeno Clash tickle your fancy? Oh, so you want some DLC -- Dragon Age: Origins will have more to offer the tireless adventurer later this month. Want to learn the Secret of Monkey Island? During the week of May 17, the secret will be half-off. See what we mean? Head past the break for more XBLM release highlights for the month provided by Microsoft.
Gearbox expects more Brothers in Arms, not planning on Wii Borderlands port
Gearbox Software Vice President Brian Martel reveals that gamers can expect another Brothers in Arms installment and that a Wii version of Borderlands isn't likely. Speaking with local TV station CBS 11, Martel notes that more Brothers in Arms is in "the future for sure" for the developer. A surprising admission, since BiA: Hell's Highway's retail performance was cited by sources as a cause for layoffs at the developer last year. Apparently the series warrants another go.Martel also mentions that there are some ways Borderlands could work on the Wii and its control scheme, but it doesn't sound like the company is interested in porting the main game. He mentions that Gearbox may take the character Claptrap and possibly make him into a "sort of a side-scroller character." Gearbox will likely be protective of the IP that appears to be the surprise hit of the season.[Via ThatVideoGameBlog]
Gearbox trademarks 'Modern War Hero,' instrument compatibility unconfirmed
Oooh! We get it now. Gearbox wants Infinity Ward to quit making war games so it can get a piece. After the last Brother in Arms made a hasty retreat for the bargain bin, Gearbox looks like it could be deploying a new strategy: the Trojan horse.A slew of new trademarks suggests the studio might try to sneak future games off of store shelves and into consumers' homes by disguising them as a cross between Activision's growing "Hero" brand and its Call of Duty games. Among the trademarked: "War Hero," "World War II Hero," "Brother In Arms War Hero," and -- saving the best for last -- "Modern War Hero." We can hear the conversation at GameStop already:Madden Guy #1: Modern War Hero? Hey, bro, this the new Call of Duty?Madden Guy #2: Yeah, broheim. Definitely.Madden Guy #1: Sweeeeeet! New Madden ain't out yet -- I'm all over this.Madden Guy #2: True. I'm not gonna lie, it sounds like you can play with your Guitar Hero guitar.Madden Guy #1: Dude. Niiiiiice.
Gearbox CEO wants Bungie & Infinity Ward to move beyond established brands
Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford wants Bungie and Infinity Ward to leave behind the Halo and Call of Duty/Modern Warfare brands and create something new. While he prefaced his comments by showering both devs with celestial praise, Pitchford said he is eagerly anticipating new intellectual properties from each team."I keep waiting to hear what Bungie is going to do that's not Halo," Pitchford told VideoGamer at E3. "Same with Infinity Ward. It's like, dude I'm totally psyched to get my Call of Duty fix every year, but you guys are amazing! What else have you got? Can you give me something I haven't seen before?"Pitchford does admit it's difficult to walk away from established brands when the risk of creating a new IP is so high, but says innovators need to be rewarded so that teams "making big bets can take that risk."Gearbox Software itself is no stranger to established brands. After porting Halo: Combat Evolved to PC in 2003, Gearbox developed the Brothers in Arms series, which has seen 10 titles released across 11 platforms since its debut in 2005. Gearbox is currently developing the new IP Borderlands, which is set to hit the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC this fall. [Photo Credit]
Brothers in Arms: Hour of Heroes impresses as an iPhone shooter
Here we go -- Doom on the jailbreak aside, the iPhone hasn't really had a nice example of shooter gameplay, though Brothers in Arms: Hour of Heroes (iTunes link) seems like it might be the breakout. It's made by Gameloft, who've been making mobile games for a while now, but the good news is that it doesn't look like a mobile game at all. The graphics are 3D and vibrant, and the sounds are very impressive. The control scheme is interesting -- it's more of a third person shooter, as you use the lower left wheel to move your character, and you can use the touchscreen to move the aiming reticule (seems like there's a little autoaim help in there as well). There are even cutscenes, multiple weapons to choose from, vehicles to drive, and a cover system (though there kind of has to be, with aiming that slow in places).Still, very impressive for an iPhone game, and a very good bar-setter for the first major shooter we've seen on the platform. As you might expect, this isn't going to be cheap -- it's $9.99 in the App Store, and while this would be the perfect title for a demo (how else do you expect to sell a $10 app?), there's not one to be found at all. Still, if there's going to be such a thing as a premium game on the iPhone, this is probably it. For all of the colorful little puzzle and wordplay games on the iPhone, sometimes you just want to shoot some Nazis.
Deal of the Night: Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway at $40
Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway is a relatively new title. It was just released almost exactly one month ago. It's a first-person shooter, which means it's a dime a dozen; there are already a lot of them to go around. To help make it stand out of the crowd and appear more visible, Amazon has the title discounted by 33 percent with a $20 savings. If you're looking for a new World War II shooter and are on a budget, $40 for Hell's Highway doesn't sound too bad.[Thanks Juan P.!]
Dem-o-rama: Brothers in Arms, Madagascar 2
Right, so we know the inclusion of the demo for Madagascar 2 hardly makes this a dem-o-rama, but we figured as long as we were letting you know that a demo for Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway is now available on Xbox Live, we'd go ahead and mention Madagascar 2. Just ... you know ... in case.... Oh, OK, fine. We just wanted an excuse to make that photoshop. There, are you happy now? You guys are monsters, we tell you! Monsters!Read -- Demo: Madagascar 2Read -- Demo: Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway
Hell's Highway demo burns up the XBLM
Newly available on the Xbox Live Marketplace is a Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway demo that (unlike the game's title sort of suggests) doesn't involve Satan or let you pave roads. The demo requires roughly 1.32GB of hard drive storage and should give you a taste of the look, feel and amount of violence the retail version of Hell's Highway has in store. Go ahead and give the demo a try because, really, what's the worst that could happen? A few gigs of your hard drive lost, a few hours of your life wasted and the corruption of your gaming soul?
Metareview -- Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway
Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway has been quite a long road but, if the reviews are any indication, it's been a worthwhile one. The critiques aren't without complaint by any means, but they're are all consistently solid, always a good sign in our metareviewing experience. Official Xbox Magazine (90/100): "Raw, frenzied action and deep thoughts about the nature of leadership don't seem like natural bedfellows, but in Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway, they join forces to deliver both gripping drama and riveting gameplay. Like the heroes it portrays, the game itself is an imperfect experience, but its better qualities are so compelling that surrender won't be an option." VideoGamer (80/100): "Bar the jarring Action Camera, there's not a lot wrong with Hell's Highway. Rather, there's a lot good with it. It's an intelligent game made by adults for adults. It'll have a hard time going up against Treyarch's Call of Duty: World at War this Christmas, of course. But, like Sergeant Baker himself, it's going to put up a damn good fight." Game Informer (78/100): "Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway is a competent tactical shooter blessed with a dedication to narrative rarely seen in shooters. If Gearbox can build off this success with more inventive gameplay, the series has a chance of overcoming the boredom that curses so many WWII titles."
Shipping this week: Hell's LEGO hunting edition
We've got five (count 'em, five) new Xbox 360 games this week. Probably the biggest of the bunch is Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway, which finally arrives after numerous delays. Aside from Brothers in Arms we have LEGO Batman, which we imagine will be an awful lot like LEGO Indiana Jones which was an awful lot like LEGO Star Wars. We question whether or not the somewhat addictive charm will hold out this time. To round out the week, we've got off-road racing, hacking and slashing, and ... um ... hunting. Consider the fall gaming flood postponed. Baja: Edge of Control Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway Warriors Orochi 2 Cablela's Dangerous Hunts 2009 LEGO Batman
Retail and download releases for the week of September 22nd
Click image for more screens Well folks, just as stated, we've got a new Mega Man game to play this week. What's even better is that along with the sure-to-be-awesome Mega Man 9, we've also got some solid retail releases. And there's a surprise or two with this week's Virtual Console releases, as well. Head on past the break for the info. This week is going to be chock full of gaming goodness.%Gallery-30253%
Worldwide PS3 releases for the week of September 21st
It's almost like magic. The first day of Autumn hits tomorrow and the game industry intends to start the season as it means to go on. In short, by throwing game after game directly at your face until your wallet sits empty and your hands are blistered from constant gaming. Ouch. Here's the full release list:US Games Baja: Edge of Control Buzz! Quiz TV Cabela's Dangerous Hunts 2009 Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway (Limited Edition) Lego Batman EU Games Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway Pure SBK 08: Superbike World Championship 2008 NHL 09 G1 Jockey 4 2008 Baja: Edge of Control Asian Games Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway Aquanaut's Holiday Madden NFL 09 Ratchet & Clank: Quest For Booty Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 X Edge Release dates are constantly subject to change, so contact your local retailer if you're uncertain. Feel free to go on an import spree if you feel like it, but keep in mind that DLC for any game generally has to be bought from the PSN store of the same region.
Gearbox: learning PS3 tech reason behind Brothers in Arms delay
Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway has been in development for a really long time. But what was the main reason behind the lengthy development? Gearbox's Jeramy Cooke told MTV Multiplayer that focusing on the PS3 is what made development so difficult. Rather than simply outsourcing the game to a different studio as they've done in the past, they wanted to work on the game in-house. "In previous Brothers in Arms, we had farmed out the PlayStation versions to other developers who were PlayStation experts," he said. "So we had to build up all that expertise in-house to understand that platform."Hopefully, working on the game internally will help the game avoid the "port plague" which has hurt many multiplatform PS3 games. By having Gearbox work on the game internally, it should play more to the PS3's strengths. "There's just major hardware differences; you don't know if your Xbox guy has a hard drive but your PlayStation guy does, and you've got 8 cores on this machine and 4 and a half on this machine."
Brothers In Arms Hell's Highway armed and ready, deploying Sept. 23
No one ever said paving Hell's Highway would be easy, but Gearbox has wicked the final bead of sweat from its brow, relieved to announce that the next Brothers In Arms is complete and will ship on September 23rd. Today's definitive confirmation brings to an end a number of construction setbacks -- officially totaling umpteen -- that delayed the project for two years. That's right, remember when Hell's Highway was on your holiday 2006 list? While development was on par with real-world highway building, Hell's Highway is, unfortunately for its creators, not an actual roadway surface, but a World War II shooter -- a genre that has seriously diminished in relevance over the past 24 months (not that highways aren't also struggling -- gas is how much per gallon now?). The best thing about Brothers in Arms imminent release might be reassurance that we're one step closer to playing Gearbox's Aliens game.%Gallery-23910%
Hell's Highway pushed back to September
The paved, petulant path past purgatory has been politely pushed to September. Speaking to Shacknews, Gearbox president Randy Pitchford said Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway will miss its August 26 release date. A precise date is as-of-yet undecided, but Pitchford noted that "late September is the anniversary of Operation Market Garden, so I think it would be really poetic if the game launched on the anniversary." Market Garden serves as a basis for Hell's Highway and occured September 17 to 25, 1944. Online retailers Gamestop and Amazon are listing the game's release for September 23.
Joystiq E3 hands-on: Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway
You can't envy companies releasing a first-person shooter these days. We've have a glut of quality in that department recently, with several-months-old FPSs still clogging the top slots of Xbox Live activity. So we were curious to see if Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway could cut through the clutter and prove itself worthy of a spot among the powerhouses. The answer? A resounding "I don't know."%Gallery-23910%
